Don't Just Boycott the Oscars, Destroy Them

It’s heartening that Spike Lee, Jada Pinkett Smith, and, as of this morning, her husband Will Smith have publicly denounced the Academy Awards, declaring that they will not be attending this year’s ceremony. The Oscars, though seen as a pinnacle of artistic achievement, really amount to cherries on top of a bowl of them. They represent more success to those who have already had so much of it—success in getting a movie made, and then success in getting it sufficient attention to yield Oscars, either by selling a lot of tickets or wooing critics, or, most frequently, some mixture of the two. It’s high time we reevaluate how much we invest in their importance.

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